Crocodile drags a British journalist in Sri Lankan lagoon

A disturbing report says that one of the journalists who worked with the Financial Times is believed to be dead after a crocodile dragged him in Sri Lanka lagoon on Thursday.

The ugly incident

According to a witness, the 24-year-old journalist was staying at the East Beach Surf Resort with his friends and was learning surfing at a familiar surf spot known as the Elephant Rock.

A Scottish tourist informed The Guardian that there’s a lagoon close to the sea, and the British journalist went to the toilet close to the bay where a crocodile dragged him. The tourist added that so many people were in the lagoon, but saw his arms waving above the water, after which he was grabbed under. According to the tourist, he didn’t see it but was present there.

The army, navy and another task force have been ordered to look for the remains of Paul McClean, but the water body connected to Elephant Rock waters murky and is very deep, as said by Fawas Lafeer, the owner of Safa Surf School.
Lafeer also said that McClean went about 800 meters into the jungle, and the crocodile grabbed him while washing his hand. He went on to say that he overheard some witnesses saying that such incident was the first ever, as Elephant Rock is a safe place to surf.

More about McClean

Paul McClean graduated with a first class honors degree in French from the POxford University. He was part of Survey in the UK and took up the first job after college, covering Brexit for the Financial Times. McClean had just returned to London after staying in Brussels for some months.

McClean from the University who chose to speak anonymously said his friend was a very considerate and lovely person who was doing a great job at Financial Times.
A recent article by McClean includes a report on the effects of climate change in the wine industry.

The lagoon is popular for having many crocodiles, and is some yards away from Elephant Rock close to the Arugam Bay, as reported by The Sun.

Some locals hinted the probability of quicksand close the lagoon. There have been former cases of attacks by the crocodile in Sri Lanka. Some time ago, a teenage girl was reported to have been dragged away by a crocodile while she was spending her holiday with her family in April.